King and Lionheart
by anothercarly
Summary: Who knew that a barfight could catalyze Charlie's greatest adventure?
1. Chapter 1

It was Ella's birthday.

Ella was Charlie's best friend. She was more like a sister, in fact. Ella and Charlie met through their big brothers. Charlie's big brother Matt played football with Ella's big brother Steve. And so Ella and Charlie became best of friends.

Ella wasn't as wealthy as Charlie, by any means. But Charlie didn't let that stop anything. Charlie's family lived in the nice, upperclass part of London, with nice parties and brunches and gatherings. Ella's situation was...less than ideal. Ella and her brother always stuck through it, through everythin, because the Osborn parents didn't exactly deserve parent of the year awards. They drank, smoked, and often resulted to violence towards Ella and Steve. Steve typically protected Ella, but he unfortunately got caught in some very, very bad things, started taking drugs, and OD'd. So Ella was defenseless, jobless, and often hopeless.

But now Ella was twenty! And Charlie was treating her to a drink in Ella's favorite pub, one a bit rundown, but one Ella said she had fond memories of with Steve. Ella was drinking guiness, Charlie Diet Coke. And all was well, until. . .

"Oi! Hey there, Red!" Obviously they were talking to Ella, with her bright red curls. "I'm talkin' t'you, lady!"

"Ignore them, Ella. You're too good to grant them a response," Charlie told her quietly

Charlie watched them approach Ella from across the bar.

"Aye, you're Steve's little sis', eh? He was a wanker, anyway,"

Ella clenched her teeth, gripping her drink.

Charlie looked up at the "gentleman" harassing her friend.

"Gentleman, I would truly appreciate it if you would fuck off," she spoke sternly, looking the ring leader right in the eyes.

"Watcher mouth, lady. We ain't talkin' to you. Ya, know, wifout Steve round, you've got no one to take care've ya, d'ya?" The ringleader was actually disgusting. He wore a snapback, a big hoodie, his face was covered in acne. But it was his personality that made him truly disgusting.

Ella was about to break into tears.

"If you say one more word to her, I'll take her glass of Guiness, break it, and use it to saw off your balls."

They ignored Charlie, continuing to harass Ella instead.

"We can take care've ya real nice," he said as he grabbed her shoulder. Charlie couldn't take it anymore. In a flash, she stood up, grabbed the wanker's shoulder and pulled him away from Ella before swinging directly for his nose.

"You little cunt!" He yelled back, clutching the blood. Ella was speechless, motionless. It was probably for the best anyway: Charlie didn't want her getting to involved.

"Come on boys, think you can take me?"

In fact, Charlie knew they could. But she wouldn't let them know that. Three against one. She could manage. The first one lunched for her, but she quickly moved out of the way, swinging behind him and kicking him to the ground. Then she brought her foot around and plunged it into the groin of another one of his goons. She saw Ella get up to help her, but the third guy swung and knocked her over. Charlie was pissed. She was going to make them pay. But before she could make another move, the ringleader was behind her again. She was thrashing, trying to get off.

"What're we gonna do with this one? You seem classy, bet we can rough you up!"

"Don't touch me!"

And what did they do? Touch her.

"Excuse me, but I think the lady told you not to touch her."

A man about her age stood up from his seat in the back. He was well suited, what looked like a Kingsman suit, and those didn't come cheap. He was dressed much too well to be in this kind of pub. He wore thick framed glasses and carried an extremely posh umbrella.

"Oh, yeah, what're you gonna do about it."

He said nothing, simply walked towards the door.

"Manners," he spoke as he locked the top latch, "Maketh," he locked the middle lock, "Man."

The goons still held their grip on Charlie. They just laughed.

"Do you know what that means, gentleman?"

"What's a little prat like you gonna do?"

"Perhaps I should teach you a lesson."

He took the hook of his umbrella and used it to grab a glass on the table. It hookes and he swung it directly towards Charlie. However, he didn't aim for her. He aimed for the ringleader, and it hit him directly in the forehead. Charlie used this as her oppurtunity to get out of their grasp. The goons went for the man, then. But he didn't give them the chance to do much. He was a good fighter. He anticipated every move and was able to use it to his advantage. Charlie used this as her chance to check on Ella, who was completely in shock.

"Well, this isn't what you expected for your birthday, is it?"

Charlie watched. This was some James Bond level shit. And then it was all over.

The man strolled over to the bartender, whom Charlie had forgotten was there. "You're not going to tell anyone about this, are you?"

The bartender shook his head and grabbed his phone, presumably to call the police.

The suited man shook his head and adjusted to cuffs of his shirt, but a needle popped out, and he shot it into the bartender's neck. He dropped to the ground. The man in the suit walked over to the two girls, the last remaining conscious people in the bar.

"Sorry about that. Probably shouldn't have let you seen that, so. . ." He went to adjust his cuffs again.

"Listen, sir, I know we've seen some things, but..." Charlie started. "We're not gonna tell anyone."

He laughed. "I was just playing. You all right?"

"Something like that," Charlie insisted. "Ella's probably got a concussion, but my aunt's a nurse. She'll take care of it."

Ella was sort of in her own little world.

"What's your name?"

"I'm Charlie Davis, this is Ella Osborn. And you are?"

"I'm Eggsy."

"Well, Eggsy, thank you for the hand, here. I have to say, you're quite the badass. And have rather nice taste in suits, tailored well. Kingsman?"

He had a wonderful glint in his eyes. "You've got a good eye."

"Well, thank you again. I've got to get Ella to my aunt before she goes totally unconscious."

"Let me take you. It's the least I can do, considering your friend is concussed."

While Charlie wouldn't typically take rides from well-dressed strangers, she figured that since he just beat down and entire bar for her, she could take a ride. She nodded and Eggsy helped Charlie take Ella out to his car. Charlie sat in the back seat of the sleak, black car, with Ella at her side, to make sure she didn't fall asleep and go unconscious. Charlie continuously gave Eggsy directions to her home, but it seemed like he was already making the correct turns, quickly and wildly.

"Here," Charlie pointed to her home, a nice manor, and Eggsy whipped his car into the drive. "Thank you again. You're really badass."

"Nice meeting you Charlie Davis, and Ella Osborn."

"Likewise, Eggsy."

Eggsy watched as Charlie took Ella into her home, to her nurse Aunt, and decided that Charlie Davis was a girl worth keeping an eye on.

He knew it when he first heard her comment in that pub. He saw that a girl like her, designer clothes, hair in a neat bun, posh bag and umbrella, did not belong in a pub such as the one they were both in. Eggsy only went becauseit brought back nostaligia: he used to live in this very neighborhood. But he doubted that the blonde had ever lived here. She was with her friend, a firey red head, who looked much more like she belonged in the pub. Some goons came and started bothering the two, and just as he was about to step in, he heard the blonde speak.

"Gentleman, I would truly appreciate it if you would fuck off," she spoke lowly. Eggsy cracked a smile.

However, they were relentless.

They mentioned something about the girl's brother, and that really set the blonde off.

""If you say one more word to her, I'll take her glass of Guiness, break it, and use it to saw off your balls."

This girl had balls, that was for sure.

Then, they touched her, and the blonde went berserk, diving straight for the man and punching him in the face. Eggsy watched her, her form was a bit messy, you could tell she wasn't exactly a fighter, but she had a natural touch, and fire. However, she got in quite the mess. She was a bit foolish trying to take on three at once. They had her trapped, and her friend inebriated.

"Don't touch me!"

Ah, so now they were threatening to rape the girl. Now Eggsy found it was time to step in.

"Excuse me, but I think the lady told you not to touch her."

Eggsy stood up and walked towards them. The blonde looked up at him in both helplessness and confusion. Then Eggsy did his favorite trick, one that had been Harry's. He locked the door and said his favorite line: "Manners Maketh Man." He flung the glass directly at him. The blonde obviously thought it was heading for her, as she visably cringed. Once it hit that goon, though, she took her opportunity to get away and get to her friend. Eggsy finished up, drugged the bartender, and looked at the two girls. The blonde was staring in amazement. She even guessed where is suit was from.

So, from that point on, Eggsy was interested. He slipped a bug on both Charlie's and Ella's shoulders, just to keep track. And then he drove Charlie home, a location he was easily able to find just by using his glasses to look up her address.

When he got back to his home, the one he had procured since getting his job at Kingsman Tailor's, he went straight to his office and looked up the mysterious Charlie Davis.

Charlotte Eleanor Davis, daughter of Kelly Davis and the late Jordan Davis. Jordan had died when Charlie was thirteen of heart failure, but that didn't explain the mystery of Kelly. Kelly Davis had been arrested several times, frequent visits to Rehab, and had fought for permanent custody of Charlie. Court record showed Charlie's passionate fighting against living with her mother. That explained why she lived with Proprieter Jacob Davis and his nurse wife Georgiana, and her cousins Matthew and Alice.

Charlotte had extremely high marks in school, top percentile in all examinations. She had taken several self-defense courses with her cousin Matthew. The only poor thing on her record was a stay in a psychological ward for depression and a year or so of several fights after the death of her father, but that quickly went away.

Then, out of curiosity, he looked up Ella Osborn. The Osborns were almost the complete opposite of the Davises. The parents, Michael and Ashley, had the same poor record as Kelly Davis. The family lived in the same complex as Eggsy had used to, in a poor part of town. Ella had a brother Stephen who had gotten caught on a bad track and recently overdosed.

With this in mind, Eggsy decided that Charlie Davis might be a person he should keep his eye on. After the recent betrayal of Arthur, Kinsman had undergone a large purging of betrayers, and was now in the market for new agents. Eggsy was still on the hunt for his recruit. Charlie wasn't the typical recruit, neither extremely high-class and wildly intelligent, nor a scrappy underdog. She was different, a balance, and that might have been what Kingsman needed.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ella? Ella? Talk to me. What's happening?"

Ella was sobbing. Charlie couldn't understand a word she was saying. But she heard shouting in the back, and she knew it was her God-Awful parents.

"That's it. I'm coming over,"

"No, Charlie. They won't let me leave."

"And I won't let you stay! I'm coming over. Get out if you can. If you can't, stay where you are."

Charlie called that she was leaving and ran out to her car, speeding across town to Ella's. She banged on the door. Ella's mom answered.

"Charlie, now really isn't the best time-"

"The hell it's not. Where is she?" Charlie demanded, pushing past her. She searched the run-down flat for her best mate. When she found Ella, she was bruised, battered.

"That's enough. Ella's leaving, for good," Charlie demanded.

Ella's mom went to grab her, and this drove Charlie berserk. She swung for Ashley, actually managing to damage her. Ella was terrified.

"I've had enough of you treating Ella like garbage. Just because her brother isn't around to protect her anymore, doesn't mean that you can hurt her!"

Charlie then caused just about the textbook definition of a "domestic disturbance," she fought Ella's parents, yelled, and eventually the police got called. The Osborns were able to convince the police that everything was Charlie's fault, that she came in, uninvited, and started to cause a disturbance. Since Charlie had a bit of a violent record, they believed them.

Charlie knew she had fucked up, so she went with the police peacefully. She was really in some tough shit. She had been in fights before, but never one in which the police was called. She decided on whom to call. She decided that Matthew was probably her best bet.

Once she got to the station, the police led her into an interrogation room.

"I did it. Obviously, I fucked up. I know I did," she confessed.

"Why?"

"I was angry. Pissed. Defensive. Emotionally unstable. I have a lot of reasons, but they aren't excuses. I. Fucked. Up," The officer was a lady, one who at least seemed kind of compassionate.

"It looks like you haven't had issues in a while. Why now?"

"Do you really wanna know why I got into a fucking fight over there? Because every night, when I'm not there, they put a goddamned beating on Ella and she's too scared and defenseless to stop it or even leave. And I got sick of it. Ella called me sobbing because of her cunt parents. And I went over there and lost my mind, but I'm not the only guilty party here."

"Well, witnesses say you broke into their home and started trashing it. We're more likely to believe adults and witnesses than were are to believe a nineteen year old with a history of violence," she sighed.

"Fine. Whatever," Charlie sighed in defeat and ran a hand through her hair.

"You're facing jailtime, here."

"Whatever."

"Do you want your phone call?"

"Whatever,"

They gave her a phone and she dialed her cousin's number.

"Charlie? What's up?"

"I fucked up, man. I'm at the police station. I didn't know what to do, and I didn't want to upset Jacob and Georgie."

Matt sighed.

"Which station are you at?"

Charlie hung up the phone and sighed in resign. She got into a fight with Ella's parents, and now she was facing jailtime.

"Miss Davis?" The officer walked back in. "Someone's paid your bail. You're free to go."

Charlie was given her things, suprised Matthew had already gotten her call. When she wandered out of the station, her benefactor was not whom she was expecting.

"Never thought I'd find you in jail."

"Eggsy? What are you doing here?"

"Just bailing out some girl who got caught in a domestic disturbance..."

Charlie caught on. "That was you? How did you-"

"I have my ways." He smirked. "Now, I'm just wondering how a seemingly normal, pacifistic girl has gotten into two fights in only twenty-four hours?"

"Both parties deserved it," she shrugged, hopping up to sit on the ledge.

"I think a guy who just bailed you out deserves a little more explanation than that."

"Fine," she sighed. "I suppose I can tell you the story. I already told the police, but they didn't believe me. Short story? They hurt Ella, and were going to keep hurting Ella, so I hurt them. Even shorter story? I fucked up,"

He chuckled. Charlie did too.

"So, Eggsy, why'd you bail me out?" Charlie asked. "And what are you? Because I know you're not just some kid,"

"Wanna come for a walk?"

"I suppose I can do you this one favor, considering you just bailed me out," she laughed as she hopped off of the ledge. "Let me just text my brother not to bother picking me up."

She followed Eggsy as the began walking.

"So, are we going to smalltalk about the suprisingly sunny day? Or am I going to get answers? Both seem suitable," Charlie remarked. "It really is uncharacteristically warm out, I might add."

"Why didn't you want to live with your mother?" Eggsy asked.

Charlie was flabbergasted. "I, what? How do you-"

"I know a lot of things, Charlotte," he remarked. "Also, have you been taking your medication? I know you can behave a bit eradically when you aren't,"

"Listen, I don't know who you think you are, but if you believe you can judge me-"

"I'm not judging you, Charlie," he declared. "Trust me when I tell you that you've done much better with your situation than most."

"How do you know these things about me?" Charlie asked lowly with a hint of worryin her voice.

"My job has a lot of perks. Information is one of them," Eggsy led her down an alleyway. "Think fast, Davis."

Eggsy went to attack her. Eggsy's style was very refined, but had a bit of street style intertwined with it. Charlie fought back to the best of her ability.

"What the hell are you doing?" Charlie shouted at him.

Charlie was good, but not as good as Eggsy was. He was able to corner her and get her to the ground.

"You're good. But not good enough," Eggsy said as he cracked a smile, offering her a hand to help her up. Charlie rolled her eyes and took it.

"Any explanation?"

"You have to anticipate your opponent's moves. So when I put my hand here-"

"I use it to get you off your balance," Charlie replied. "Hasn't anyone told you that it's impolite to attack a lady?"

"Once, maybe," he laughed. "Let's keep going."

Charlie sighed, but she was intrigued enough to follow him.

"I work for a certain agency that specializes in, should I say vigilante justice? Maybe not. My agency is about as old as time. We're tasked with playing behind the scenes to make sure everything goes smoothly."

"Like James Bond? If you're a secret agent, just say so," Charlie was only half joking.

Eggsy kept describing his agency as they walked down Savile Road. Right to Kingsman Tailors.

"Dressing room one,"

Eggsy led her into the dressing room.

"What do you see in the mirror, Charlie?" He asked.

"Someone who wants to know what the hell is going on." Eggsy laughed.

"I see someone full of potential. Are you interested?"

Charlie laughed. "Hell yeah."

Eggsy pressed a few buttons and the dressing room began to sink.

Charlie laughed in amazement. "How deep does this thing go?"

"Deep enough!"

When it finally stopped, Charlie and Eggsy walked out to find vehicles of all sorts: planes, cars, many of the finer things in life. Then Eggsy led her to a sort of monorail.

"Late. Typical. Let's go."

Charlie was very confused, but also very amused. She got in, and it sped away. She almost got sick. Then a tall, balding man with glasses confronted Eggsy and Charlotte.

"Galahad, late. I'm not suprised. Is this your recruit?"

Eggsy, or Galahad, nodded.

"You can go to the training area, then. Right through those doors."

Charlie sauntered in confusion through the doors into a very military style room, with very military style bunks. The room was filled with a variety of people, from men dressed in suits to women in spring dresses. Charlie was extremely confused, to say the least.

"You must be the last one!"

A girl dressed in black trousers and a jacket strolled over to Charlotte.

"I'm Beth."

"Charlie. Do you mind explaining to me what's going on here?"

Beth laughed. "You must have one that gets a kick out of the mystery. Anyway, this is recruiting for Kingsman."

"You're kidding,"

"Nope. Anyway, I think we're going to start soon. Best of luck."

The man from before sauntered in. Everybody stood in lines, respectfully, ready to listen.

"Everybody! Welcome to training. You are going to be put to your limits, here. But first thing's first: on your beds you will find body bags. Write your full name, date of birth, and next of kin on the bag. And remember: if you tell anyone what you saw here, your next of kin will be in that bag. At ease!" And then he sauntered off.

Beth beckoned for Charlie, and Charlie happily obliged.

"It's a military tactic, the body bag. Merlin's just trying to scare us."

Charlie tried to keep her cool. "I'm not worried. I just won't die."

She wrote Charlotte Eleanor Davis, her date of birth, and Jacob Davis on the bag. She guessed it was Jacob, at least. She'd never had to write her next of kin before.

On the other side of Charlie was a boy in his twenties.

"I'm Elijah, Cambridge, Marines."

"Hi, Elijah, Cambridge, Marines. I'm Charlie."

"Where do you go to school? Oxford?"

"I'm taking a gap year, then going to The University of Paris in the fall," Charlie explained.

"What'll you be studying?" Elijah asked, full of curiosity and interest.

"Sociology, probably."

"Do you speak French?"

"Un peu," Charlie laughed. "I took a few courses, but they say you catch on faster once you're immersed in the language."

Everyone started "lights out"ing.

"Best of luck, Elijah."

A few hours into sleep, shouting woke Charlie up.

"Everybody! Everybody up!"

The room was filling with water. Everybody began panicking, trying to formulate a solution.

"We need to look for potential escape routes," Charlie declared. "The door. If it's locked, we can find a way to pick it. Or break it open,"

The room was full of type-A personalities. Ones who talked over each other. The water was rising faster.

"Hey!" Charlie shouted, causing everyone to look at her. "We need to split into two groups: those who help us find a way out, and those who help us find a way to breathe while we're in here. There has to be a way,"

"The shower heads!" Beth shouted. Elijah and Beth started going over how you can use "simple physics" to get "unlimited oxygen" from showerheads. As the water rose, everyone swam over to create the tools. Charlie swam to the door, but when she found that opening it was useless, she gave up. There was no more air left, at this point. Charlie swam back to the toilets to get her oxygen, but a horrifying sight caught her eye. A girl, one Charlie remembered Elijah calling Violet, was motionless, her leg hooked on the frame of one of the bunks. Charlie swam over to her and tried her hardest to get her unhooked, to save her, but it was to no avail. She couldn't hold her breathe any longer. She felt someone come up from behind her and grab her, but she just kept shaking Violet, trying to get her to move, to do something! But the boy grabbing her from behind just pulled her away and to get some oxygen. Then that same boy noticed something in the mirrors. He started banging on them, trying to make them break. Charlie realized what he was doing. He must have some sort of idea. So after getting one big breathe of air, she beckoned Beth and Elijah to help her help this kid. After a while, there was a spiderweb crack in the mirror, and the boy kicked it all the way through.

The water flooded out and into an observation room. Merlin was standing there with a clipboard.

Charlie turned around to see Violet motionless on the ground. She was dead.

"Recruits! You have finished your first test. Beth and Elijah, nice job on figuring out that with some simple physics and the showerheads, you can have an unlimited air supply. James, nice job on realizing that this was a two way mirror. There was one thing all but two of you forgot. Teamwork. Charlotte was the only one who tried to make a cohesive plan. Charlotte was also the only one who noticed that Violet was left behind, and James was the only one to make sure Charlotte could get to safety. Let this be a lesson to you all: you will get no where at Kingsman without cooperation."


End file.
